Monday, May 1, 2017

Peter Braddock

THE BEGGAR GENERATION

Scared of life, the open, breathing world
outside of parents' insurance and meal plans.
Are we supposed to be scared or happy
because all I see is ignorance.
In the halls men sing
"fuck that pussy, fuck that clit,"
why?
What the hell is there in singing those songs
and sucking on a woman, sticky like lollipops.

Drunk in the morning,
in line waiting for food I listen,
"The food here tastes like shit,"
"I can’t wait to get the fuck
out of here", standing outside
the sandwich glass. "That bitch
I swear has something wrong with her,"

working 5:00am to 10:00pm.
Two kids, a drunken husband
and a mortgage.
Minds of the 21st century blinded by ignorance.

Walls built 200 years ago to represent
the greater version of yourself,
where men's "ideals of old" lie dead
under the floorboards beneath layers of
piss, beer, and cum.
Fat fucking fraternity men dribble spit
and laugh, grinning with their alcoholic
breath watching virgins drip cum
from every hole in their body—
laughing—
imagining through their jeans,
holes to fill.

In the news I see dead kids and bombed villages,
politicians yelling at young Africans
"those fucks didn’t die how they’re supposed to."
Walking through the mounds of dead bodies,
slicing off fingerprints and dental records,
gathering supporters for the next election.

Peter confesses:"I was reading Alan Ginsburg for the first time, and understanding his work did nothing--and crying for seeing that. Today we still have young men growing up in the dregs of masculinity and racism, and sadly, a President who epitomizes these attributes. It's just sad, that's all."

PETER BRADDOCK is twenty-three years old looking to apply for graduate school this winter. He typically writes poetry about personal experiences, dark or lighthearted, and wants to learn to write more fiction. His mother recently asked him to do something with his hair, he replied, "I am doing something, I’m letting it grow."